■75 



• 



Hollinger Corp. 

P H8.5 



SB 193 
.T5 
Copy 1 



1UC 



Practical Application of the Kent Grazing 
Bill to Western and Southwestern 
Grazing Manges 



An Address by Prof. J. 5 J.Thornber, of Arizona Experiment 
Station, Tucson, Arizona 



Delivered at the Seventeenth Annual Convention of the American 

National Live Stock Association, Denver, Colorado 

January 22, 1914 



The Bill Discussed by Prof. Thornber, H. R. 10539, Introduced in Congress by Hon. 

William Kent, and Pending before the Committee on Public Lands 

of the House of Representatives, Is Printed Herein 



PUBLISHED BY 

AMERICAN NATIONAL LIVE STOCK ASSOCIATION 

909 SEVENTEENTH STREET, DENVER, COLO. 

FEBRUARY, 1914 



OFFICERS 



OF THE 



Natinnal %xw #tnrk AHsnriatum 

FOR THE YEAR 1914 



H. A. JASTRO, President 

DWIGHT B. HEARD, First Vice-President 

Second Vice-Presidents: 
J. B. KENDRICK 
C. M. O'DONEL 
M. K. PARSONS 
I.T.PRYOR 
C. B. RHODES 
WALLIS HUIDEKOPER 

JOHN W. SPRINGER, Treasurer 
SAM H. COWAN, Attorney 
T. W. TOMLINSON, Secretary 



Bakersfield, California 
Phoenix, Arizona 

Sheridan, Wyoming 

Bell Ranch, New Mexico 

Salt Lake City, Utah 

San Antonio, Texas 

Orchard, Colorado 

Wallis, Montana 

Denver, Colorado 

Fort Worth, Texas 

Denver, Colorado 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 



HUGH CAMPBELL Flagstaff, Ariz. 

J. M. CARTWRTGHT Phoenix, Ariz. 

P. T. COLTER Springerville, Ariz. 

E. H. CRABB Flagstaff, Ariz. 

L. L. HARMON Phoenix, Ariz. 

C. P. MULLEN Tempe, Ariz. 

W. H. NEEL McNeal, Ariz. 

M. A. PERKINS Junction, Ariz. 

F. A. REID Seligman, Ariz. 

FRED H. BIXBY Long Beach, Cal. 

K. E. EASTON Santa Maria, Cal. 

ROBERT FOSTER Healdsburg, Cal. 

II. S. BOICE Pasadena, Cal. 

O. B. FULLER Los Angeles, Cal. 

E. W. HOWARD San Francisco, Cal. 

ROMIE JACKS Monterey, Cal. 

H. W. KLIPSTEIN, JR Maricopa, Cal. 

H. S. STEPHENSON... Los Angeles, Cal. 

N. R. VAIL Los Angeles, Cal. 

J. C. WALSER Piute, Cal. 

ISAAC BAER Meeker, Colo. 

D. D. CASEMENT Colo. Springs, Colo. 

A E. de RICQLES Denver, Colo. 

H. GLAZBROOK Higbee, Colo. 

WILLIAM GREEN Trinidad, Colo. 

JOHN MacBAlN Trinidad, Colo. 

W. L. PETRIK1N Denver, Colo. 

M. J. GRAY St. Anthony, Idaho 

F. R. GOODING Gooding, Idaho 

A. SYKES Des Moines, Iowa 

HORACE ADAMS Plains, Kan. 

-VI. C. CAMPBELL Wichita, Kan. 

T. M. POTTER Peabody, Kan. 

W. J. TOD Maple Hill, Kan. 

E. C. HOUGHTON Corralitos, Mexico 

C. K. WARREN Three Oaks, Mich. 

W. D. JOHNSON Kansas City, Mo. 

R. J. KINZER Kansas City, Mo. 

L. F. WILSON Kansas City, Mo. 

J. M. BOARDMAN Helena, Mont. 

A. B. COOK Helena, Mont. 

ROBERT JONES Wisdom, Mont. 

KENNETH MeLEAN. . .Miles City, Mont.' 

D. W. RAYMOND Helena, Mont. 

E. L. BURKE Omaha, Neb.*' 

W. G. COMSTOCK Ellsworth, Neb. 

A. H. METZGER Merriman, Neb. 



A. R. MODISETTE Rushville, Neb. 

ROBERT TAYLOR Abbott, Neb. 

WILLIAM MOFFAT Reno, Nev. 

HARRY PETRIE Golconda, Nev. 

H. W. ADAMS Vermejo Park, N. M. 

GEORGE W. BAKER Folsom, N. M. 

W. E. CURETON Steeplerock, N. M. 

VICTOR CULBERTSON. Silver City, N. M. 

W. H. JACK Folsom, N. M. 

W. C. MCDONALD Carrizozo, N. M. 

C. W. MERCHANT Roswell, N. M. 

G. H. WEBSTER, JR. .. .Cimarron, N. M. 
G. HOWARD DAVISON. . .Millbrook, N. Y. 

W. E. HALSELL Vinita, Okla. 

JAMES G. KIDWELL Portland, Ore. 

O. M. PLUMMER N. Portland, Ore. 

WILLIAM POLLMAN Baker, Ore. 

BURTON C. MOSSM AN. Eagle Butte, S. D. 

P. H. O'NEIL Faulkton, S. D. 

F. M. STEWART Buffalo Gap, S. D. 

JULIAN M. BASSETT...Crosbyton, Tex. 

L. C. BRITE Marfa, Tex. 

S. B. BURNETT Fort Worth, Tex. 

JAMES CALLAN Menardville, Tex. 

J. D. JACKSON Alpine, Tex. 

JOHN LANDERGIN Vega, Tex. 

J. H. NATIONS El Paso, Tex, 

J. H. PARRAMORE Abilene, Tex. 

AL POPHAM Amarillo, Tex. 

W. B. SLAUGHTER Dallas, Tex. 

W. D. REYNOLDS Fort Worth, Tex. 

R. E. WARD San Antonio, Tex. 

JAMES ANDRUS St. George, Utah 

LARS HANSEN Ogden, Utah 

NEIL McMILLAN Murray, Utah 

JOHN Y. RICH Salt Lake City, Utah 

E. E. FLOOD Rosalia, Wash. 

F. M. ROTHROCK Spokane, Wash. 

F. W. HARDING Waukesha, Wis. 

ROBERT D. CAREY Careyhurst, Wyo. 

W. C. IRVINE Cheyenne, Wyo. 

W. M. SPEAR Sheridan, Wyo. 

'.J; C. UNDERWOOD Underwood, Wyo. 

•O. N. WALTERS Buffalo, Wyo. 

'DR. J. M. WILSON McKinley, Wyo. 

B. F. YODER Phillips, Wyo. 

MURDO MacKENZIE...Sao Paulo, Brazil 



OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATION 

909 SEVENTEENTH STREET 
DENVER, COLO. 



■ 
MAR 30 1114 



THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE KENT GRAZING BILL 
TO WESTERN AND SOUTHWESTERN GRAZING RANGES 

Professor J. J. Thornber: Mr. President, and Members of the 
American National Live Stock Association — My studies with grazing 
plants on the grazing ranges have brought me into close contact with 
the stockman. I have the greatest sympathy for him and his business. 
I am not a stockman, but, gentlemen, I will fight for a stockman every 
time, and I will trust to his being right. My interest in grazing plants 
led me to investigate other phases of the grazing problem, thanks to 
this American National Live Stock Association. I have come to 
appreciate to the depths of my heart some of the fundamental prin- 
ciples which underlie this grazing problem of the western prairies, 
hills, and mountains. Stockmen of the West have been asking for 
some kind of range administration for upwards of thirteen years, or 
ever since I have known them. Unfortunately, they could not agree 
in the beginning upon a measure that would work good for all con- 
cerned. The little stockman was afraid of the big stockman, the big 
stockman was afraid of the dry-farmer, and I guess the sheepman was 
afraid of everybody. We ought to congratulate ourselves today that 
we are united in our efforts and that we are committed to a definite 
policy. That policy is intelligent range administration. I need not 
tell you that for more than twenty years the carrying capacity of the 
western grazing ranges has been decreasing. I know that considerable 
areas of the better class of these lands have been homesteaded and 
brought under cultivation. In the aggregate, these cultivated lands 
carry as much stock now, along with the production of some agri- 
cultural crops, as they did in their uncultivated state, so that the 
decrease in beef cattle in the United States has been due to range 
deterioration, and not to the selection of homestead lands, as some 
have thought. 

This decrease in beef cattle has taken place mainly during the 
last ten years, while population has ever been on the increase. I 
seldom quote statistics, because they are tedious and are apt to be 
misleading; but I cannot refrain from mentioning some here. The 
proportion of beef cattle to population in this country in 1890 was 84 
per cent, while in 1910 it was 75 per cent. At this rate, can any of 
you tell me what it will be in 1920? Since 1910 the population has 
increased faster, and the ratio of decrease in beef cattle has been 
greater. In the last seven years the value of cattle in the United 
States, notwithstanding their decrease in numbers, has increased 
1129,000,000, and the export of meat products has fallen from 



$72,000,000 to almost nothing. It is easy from this to see why the price 
of beef has been going up. You do not have to be a political economist 
to find that out. 

Gentlemen, we have here in a condensed form the situation of the 
country as relates to its beef supply. Bad as your lot has been on the 
open range — and I appreciate something of your difficulties — the lot 
of the consumer is worse today; and it may be worse yet in three or 
five years. This decrease in the number of beef cattle in the country 
has to be stopped. It is a matter of national importance. Instead 
of a decrease there must be an actual increase in the number of beef 
cattle, and this increase must keep pace with the increase in popula- 
tion. I am not now speaking of meat supplies for foreign markets. I 
have in mind home consumption only. You know various would-be 
philosophers come forward from time to time with suggestions that 
we substitute for beef, horse flesh, goat meat, poultry, fish, and even 
peas and beans; but not any one of these, nor all of them combined, 
can take the place of beef as a staple food. We must have beef ! Now, 
what is the simplest and most reasonable solution of this problem? 
I answer: Grow more beef, and grow it on these western ranges. 
There is not any other place to grow it, and, besides, there is not a 
thing that we can do half so well. I regard this as the only possible 
solution of the problem of the scarcity of beef. Think of the absurdity 
of a great agricultural nation like this, in the prime of its youth, 
calling upon Australia and Argentina for its meat supplies! I said 
to you last year at Phoenix that the western grazing ranges were the 
pastures of the nation, and we must make them so. 

Now, with high prices for meat and this shortage of beef staring 
us in the face, let us look for just a moment at the awful condition 
which confronts the stockman today, with free and unrestricted grazing. 
He cannot fence part of the public domain. No, no, that is criminal ! 
He is not allowed to count upon his grazing resources one month in 
advance. That is bad business management, due to our government's 
negligence. If he stacks up feed on the public domain for a famine 
period, develops additional water supplies, improves the quality of 
his herds, eradicates poisonous weeds, seeks to improve the carrying 
capacity of the land, or tries to prevent erosion or cutting and over- 
grazing, he does so at his own expense, and his neighbors may derive 
as much benefit from this work as he, without sharing any of the 
outlay. Gentlemen, I call this rank injustice. I condemn it. If the 
stockman has water and grass on the public domain for a thousand 
cattle, no matter how long he has been a resident, another stockman, 
and perhaps a non-resident, can put down there beside these cattle 



another thousand head of stock, and the resident stockman can have 
no recourse. He must share, and share alike, his losses with the 
intruder, regardless of his improvements and his foresight. 

Besides this injustice to the individual stockman, unrestricted 
grazing has done infinitely greater harm to our country as a whole. 
It has invariably resulted in overstocking and overgrazing, and in 
destroying the best and most nutritious grasses on the ranges, thereby 
reducing both the quality and quantity of the remaining forage from 
year to year. It also makes impossible the alternate grazing and resting 
of areas to insure natural seed production, and it has been directly 
responsible in the past, and it is no less responsible today, for the 
heavy losses of stock from starvation on the ranges. In Arizona more 
than three-quarters of a million head of cattle, to say nothing of sheep, 
have perished from famine in thirty years' time. I condemn free 
grazing as unsafe for that one awful truth alone. 

Gentlemen, here we have the reason for the greatly lessened carry- 
ing capacity of your ranges, and likewise the reason for the decrease 
in numbers of beef cattle on these ranges. Are you surprised that 
there is a shortage of beef animals, that prices for meat are high, and 
that we have nearly stopped exporting meat supplies, and have begun 
to import them? Here is the key to the whole situation. This condi- 
tion has been going on for more than twenty years, and it will con 
tinue until we get some relief from Congress. Think of the awful 
losses of stock on the ranges, of the devastation that has come to the 
country, and of the wanton waste of natural resources! 

The operation of a federal lease law, similar to the Kent bill, 
granting to stockmen, both sheep- and cattle-growers, reasonable pro- 
tection, would completely change this condition. Confidence in the 
grazing industry would be restored. The grazing ranges throughout 
the West would carry far more stock than they do now, and carry 
them safely, and beef cattle, instead of decreasing, would increase in 
numbers. I believe every practical stockman here will tell you that 
he can carry more animals on his range if he can have something to 
say about its management. I know he will say that his annual losses 
on ranges would be less if he could know his grazing resources six 
months in advance. I am sure his interest in his business will be 
infinitely greater if he can lease ranges for a period of years, with the 
privilege of fencing them. 

During the last six years the American National Live Stock Asso- 
ciation has devoted endless time and energy to secure the passage of a 
bill by Congress regulating, through federal control, grazing on the 
unappropriated public lands. It is a compliment to the ability and 

5 



integrity of this great Association that the bill which it originally 
adopted at its meeting in the city of Denver six years ago, and which 
has been before Congress ever since under one name or another, was 
so well drawn in its fundamental features, as also in most of its 
details, as to be practically unassailable, even by its occasional op- 
ponents. You stockmen should all get copies of this bill and study 
it carefully. If it meets with your approval, or if you believe that 
your present unsatisfactory condition will be improved by this bill, 
write your congressman now and tell him to get interested in it. 

Among other things, this bill proposes to give stockmen permis- 
sion to lease and fence portions of the public range for a period of ten 
years, to encourage development and improvement of these grazing 
lands. It gives preference to homesteaders and present occupants of 
the range who have provided water and other improvements on the 
public lands. It guarantees to stockmen a reasonable pro-rata value 
for improvements made on the land. It specifies that where improve- 
ments to the extent of one hundred dollars, including buildings, corrals, 
reservoirs, wells, etc., have been made on a forty-acre tract, such land 
shall not be open to settlement during the period of the lease, without 
the consent of the owner of these improvements. It provides for a 
maximum grazing fee of four cents per acre and a minimum fee of one 
half cent per acre. While this is what the stockman pays for the 
grass, he gets in addition value received for protection in his business. 
It puts, as far as possible, the stockman's industry on a moderatelv 
safe basis. He is not looking for a famine. At the same time, this 
bill guards carefully the rights of bona-fide settlers to homestead lands 
for agricultural purposes, and makes provision for them to graze their 
domestic animals on adjacent public lands. Best of all, it secures ;i 
large amount of local government in the administration of these 
grazing lands. I believe it provides, as far as can be seen in advance, 
for every other legitimate feature connected with the public lands. 

It has been suggested that the minimum rate of one-half cent per 
acre is too much for the poorest class of grazing lands in these western 
states. I am free to admit that there are bodies of land in Arizona and 
New Mexico that under present conditions are not worth one-half cent 
per acre for grazing purposes, and I have no doubt but that this is true 
in Colorado and other western states. I believe, therefore, it would 
be well to omit any mention of a minimum charge. I know this would 
help out very much the wool-growers in Arizona. 

Gentlemen, before I leave this bill, I want to note a few of the 
advantages to stockmen of leasing and fencing over open range grazing, 
which will result from this bill. (1) To begin with, stockmen will be 

6 



able to handle the public range very much as they would their own 
land. They will know in advance how many animals they can feed, 
and how many to carry over. Yearling steers and two-year-olds can 
be kept for three- and four-year-olds. (2.) The cost of handling stock, 
and the losses under fenced conditions, are less than on the open 
range. (.3) During prolonged droughts, weak and emaciated animals 
can be kept nearer supplies of feed and water; likewise, better c^vc 
can be given to the calf crop. (4) On enclosed ranges, the improve 
ment of herds by breeding with high-grade animals is practicable. 
(5) There is no incentive to overstock protected ranges, since every 
man gets all that is coming to him all the time. (6) On protected 
ranges it is practicable to carry on a systematic alternate grazing and 
resting of the plants. This makes reseeding possible under natural 
conditions, and it is absolutely necessary for range improvement on a 
practical scale. 

Quite recently two other bills, looking toward a solution of the 
grazing problem on the public lands, have been introduced in Congress. 
One of these, known as the Gronna bill, provides for leasing of the 
public grazing lands in suitable areas for periods of five years, during 
which time such land shall not be subject to homestead entry for 
agricultural purposes. After this lease has expired, the land may be 
homesteaded for a limited time by bona-fide settlers. Failing in this, 
it is again leased for a similar five-year period. This bill is dangerous, 
because it practically prohibits permanent settlement of the land, and 
this settling of the land is the identical thing that we most of all desire 
and strive for. I believe that such a bill is unwise, and I feel assured 
that Congress could not be induced to pass it. 

The other bill is known as the Mondell bill. This is an attempt at 
long range to provide in the West a grazing homestead of sufficient 
size to support an ordinary family. The minimum entry for this shall 
be 640 acres, and the maximum entry 1,280 acres, or two sections. The 
land shall be valuable chiefly for grazing, and shall not contain com- 
mercial timber nor be susceptible of irrigation from known water 
supplies. There is little grazing land in the western and southwestern 
states that has a stock-carrying capacity such that even four sections 
of it would maintain a family in ordinarily comfortable circumstances. 
To make this bill acceptable, the entries must be much larger, and the 
lands should first of all be classified carefully. This could be done 
best after the lands had been under lease for ten years, as provided for 
in the Kent grazing bill. Again, in Arizona and New Mexico it is not 
possible to say at this time whether or not land is susceptible of irri- 
gation from one or more of the proposed irrigation projects. There- 



fore, while this bill has a splendid object in view, it is in advance of 
the times, and it is not practicable now. 

Now, with the Kent bill in mind, concerning what the stockman 
may do with a piece of grazing range under his control, I invite your 
attention briefly to some things that have actually been done in a 
practical way in range improvement in Arizona. Through co-operation 
with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the In- 
terior, the Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station obtained permis- 
sion to enclose Avith fence an area of lift}' square miles in a diversified 
grazing country. This land varied in altitude from 2,900 feet to nearly 
4,800 feet, and in rainfall from twelve inches to about twenty inches. 
The land is typical, in a general way, of large areas of the better class 
of grazing lands in Arizona. With the exception of the upper part of 
it, which consists of foothills, it was extremely badly overgrazed. The 
lower one-third of it was also badly eroded. It had been in this con- 
dition for at least fifteen years, being grazed by sheep, horses, and 
cattle. When the fence was constructed, there was not enough grass 
anywhere on it to feed a horse, and when I drove the old gray university 
horse across it to study the grass, I had to carry baled alfalfa for my 
horse. There were occasional, closely grazed, half-dead bunches of 
perennial grasses scattered here and there over the surface, and some 
grass, principally black grama, among the shrubs and cacti. Of course, 
there was six-weeks grass, which never amounts to very much. Alto- 
gether, the proposition was a very uninviting one. In fact, after one 
year we issued a statement warning people not to expect too much from 
the work. 

With protection, the bunches of grass grew up, increased in size, 
and matured seed. This dropped and found its way into the ground 
without any assistance, though I think that harrowing the surface 
would have been a good thing after the first seed crop was matured. 
The next year there were anywhere from five to twenty-five seedling 
plants for every old one. The old plants continued growth and seeded 
heavily, and, likewise, the young plants matured a crop of seed, so 
that now there was a good amount of seed for further growth. You 
know in our southwestern country, where there is plenty of warmth, 
perennial grasses will mature a crop of seed at the end of their first sea- 
son's growth. This continued for several years, every season the stand 
of grass getting heavier and the seed crop larger. At five years the 
grass covering was practically restored. There are more than thirty 
species of perennial grasses growing in this pasture now, chief of which 
are black grama, hairy grama, side-cats grama, Havard's grama, low 
grama, spruce-top grama, and wire grama; also about an equal number 

8 



of triple awn grasses, and spreading mesquite or southwestern buffalo 
grass, galleta grass, blue stem, fox-tail, and other miscellaneous grasses. 
You see, in the Southwest we have the finest grama-grass country in 
the world, and these grasses are a very important feature on this range. 
Naturally there are other forage plants, including browse and cacti, 
but perennial grasses are the important plants. 

It would be difficult to say how much the carrying capacity of 
this range had been raised, but it is certainly much more than 100 per 
cent. After five years' protection on the better class of this land we 
gave stockmen permits to cut hay over considerable areas, which 
yielded anywhere from 500 to 2,000 pounds of hay to the acre, though 
the latter figure is much in excess of the average. Perhaps 1,000 to 
1,200 pounds of hay per acre would be a fair average for the better 
land. I feel sure we can duplicate this work over large areas in Arizona. 
I refer now to our vast areas of grama-grass and mesquite-grass lands. 
1 think this can be done also in New Mexico and other western states. 

Further work showed us conclusively that there was no occasion, 
nor good reason, for excluding entirely grazing animals from such an 
enclosure after the second year at most, so long as they are kept off the 
land until the grass makes its growth, matures its seed, and the seed 
falls to the ground. Of course, one must not overgraze. The secret of 
the success of this experiment lay in the fact that the grass plants were 
allowed to mature their growth and also their seed, ungrazed and un- 
disturbed. This growth strengthened the plants themselves, and in 
addition kept the seed from blowing away. You can protect your 
grazing areas from now until doomsday without results, if you do not 
make provision for the seed to ripen and fall to the ground before 
stock get to it. Most of you know how cattle eat grass heads and seed 
in the late summer and fall. The damage from this source is as great 
as from their hoofs. This is why I insist upon the grazing ranges 
being fenced. Now, I can see nothing difficult about this experiment. 
It is practical. I believe it can be applied to a large percentage of the 
grazing ranges in the West and Southwest. I have often been asked 
why there should be any difference between winter grazing and summer 
grazing on the ranges, in connection with range improvement. My 
answer is that in order to have grass you must have plants, and plants, 
you know, grow from seed. Therefore, the maturing of seed under 
natural conditions on the range is fundamental and basic in principle. 
A reduced seed production means fewer plants the following year to 
take the places of the older ones that have died out, or that have been 
grazed or trampled out. When this reduction of plants continues for 
some years, the carrying capacity of your range is permanently low- 

9 



ered, perhaps entirely through lessened seed production. You may 
have the soil, you may have the rainfall and the sunshine, but you 
cannot have grass without seed. 

Gentlemen, to summarize : I have noted briefly the ever-decreasing 
beef supply of the country. I have examined your condition on the 
open range today, and I have shown you why the grass is disappearing, 
and why it has disappeared in the past. I am sure you are convinced 
that under present conditions you have nothing to hope for in the way 
of improvement. There has been no change for the better during the 
past twenty years with the open range, and you have no reason to look 
for any now. It does not matter to you from this time on — except 
as you consume meat — how high the price of beef goes ; if you do not 
have any grass, you will not have any stock to sell. If you are going 
to do anything, you had better do it right now. The longer you put 
it off, the worse it is going to be for you. 

I have noted some of the advantages that would certainly come to 
you as stockmen, if the principles of the Kent grazing bill were ap- 
plied to your grazing ranges. I have called your attention to the 
advantages of the Kent bill over those of others now pending in Con- 
gress. Finally, I have shown you what has actually been done in a 
practical way on an arid grazing range in Arizona. My friends, we 
have the goods to show for it. This range has been examined by scores 
of people interested in grasses — people from Australia, South Africa, 
our various states, and the Department of Agriculture; and they all 
pronounce it a splendid example of successful range restoration under 
arid conditions. Any stockman, with intelligent management, can get 
the same results. I could cite you a score more similar cases, though 
on a smaller scale. I need go no farther than to mention the ad van 
tages of grazing on the forest reserves under federal control, as com 
pared with grazing on the open range. 

The many fine advantages of this federal lease law would apply 
to approximately 400,000,000 acres of grazing lands in the West and 
Southwest — an area equal in extent to one-fifth of that of the United 
States. If the carrying capacity of but one-half of this magnificent 
grazing empire were increased 25 per cent — and I believe it can be made 
fully 50 per cent — enough more beef would be produced annually in 
this country to take care of all of our wants for many years to come ; 
and, gentlemen, I argue that this is the logical solution of this vexed 
problem of the importation of meats from foreign countries. Build 
up these ranges as it is possible to build them up, and we shall begin 
once more to ship beef products out of this country, instead of shipping 
them in. I sincerely believe that this is the greatest question before the 

10 



American people today, and I will make no exceptions. It affects both 
the East and the West, the consumer and the producer. It threatens 
the future economic policy of this country. It is all-important to you 
stockmen. It lies with you to go before Congress now and demand 
reasonable legislation. If you continue to show indifference in the 
future as you have in the past, if you refuse to get together and lend 
your hearty support to the passage of this federal lease law, we shall 
buy more of our meat products abroad every year, and we shall permit, 
knowingly, under our very eyes, the dissipation of the wealth of our 
own states, and the destruction of one of the most valuable of our 
natural resources — a national asset — the grasses of these western 
plains and hills, which have no equal in any country anywhere, either 
north or south. (Applause.) 



11 



Following is the Kent grazing bill : 

H. R. 10539 

In the House of Representative 
December 15, 1913 

Mr. Kent introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Public Lands and ordered to be printed: 

A BILL 

For the Improvement of Grazing on the public Lands of the United States and 
to Regulate the Same, and for Other Purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 

of America in Congress assembled: 

That the unreserved, unappropriated public lands of the United States 
shall be subject to the provisions of this Act, and the President of the United 
States is hereby authorized to establish from time to time, by proclamation, 
grazing districts upon the unreserved, unappropriated public lands of the 
United States, conforming to State and county lines so far as practicable, 
whereupon the Secretary of Agriculture, under rules and regulations prescribed 
by him, shall execute or cause to be executed the provisions of this Act, appoint 
all officers necessary for the administration and protection of such grazing 
districts, regulate their use for grazing purposes, protect them from depreda- 
tion, from injury to the natural forage crop, and from erosion; restore and 
improve their grazing value through regulation, by the eradication of poisonous 
plants, and by the extermination of predatory animals and otherwise; eradicate 
and prevent infectious and contagious diseases injurious to domestic animals; 
issue permits to graze live stock thereon for periods of not more than ten years, 
which shall include the right to fence the same, giving preference when practi- 
cable to homesteaders and to present occupants of the range who own improved 
ranches or who have provided water for live stock grazed on the public lands; 
and charge and collect reasonable fees for such grazing permits, based upon 
the grazing value of the land in each locality: Provided, That for ten years 
after the passage of this Act such charge for grazing shall not exceed 4 cents 
per acre nor be less than one-half cent per acre, or the equivalent thereof on a 
per-capita basis, and the Secretary of Agriculture shall revise and re-establish 
maximum and minimum rates of charge for grazing for each succeeding period 
of ten years. 

Sec. 2. That homestead or other settlement, location, entry, patent, and 
all other disposal of public lands under the public-land laws shall be in no wise 
restricted, limited, or abridged hereby; nor shall anything herein be construed 
to prevent bona-fide settlers or residents from grazing their stock used for 
domestic purposes, as defined under the regulations of the Secretary of Agri- 
culture, on the public lands affected hereby: Provided, That after the establish- 
ment of any such grazing district no form of location, settlement, or entry 
thereon shall give a right to grazing privileges on public lands except when 

12 



made under laws requiring cultivation or agricultural use of the land: Provided 
further, That permits to graze live stock upon land which is subsequently 
appropriated under any public land law shall not be affected by such subsequent 
appropriation, except as to the land actually appropriated, until the end of the 
current annual grazing period: Provided further, That no permit shall be issued 
which will entitle the permittee to the use of any buildings, corrals, reservoirs, 
or other improvements owned or controlled by a prior occupant until he has 
paid such prior occupant a reasonable pro-rata value for the use of such im- 
provements. If the parties interested cannot agree, then the amount of such 
payment shall be determined under rules of the Secretary of Agriculture: And 
provided further, That when buildings, corrals, reservoirs, wells, or other im- 
provements, except fences, shall have been established on any forty-acre tract 
to the value of more than $100, as determined by rules of the Secretary of 
Agriculture, such forty-acre tract shall not be subject to settlement or appro- 
priation under the public-land laws during the permit period without the con- 
sent of the owner of such buildings, corrals, reservoirs, wells, or other im- 
provements. 

Sec. 3. That all water on public lands or subject to the jurisdiction of 
the United States within such grazing districts may be used for milling, mining, 
domestic, or irrigation purposes under the laws of the State or Territory 
wherein such grazing districts are situated, or under the laws of the United 
States and the rules and regulations thereunder. 

Sec. 4. That no grazing permits issued under this Act shall prohibit 
settlers, prospectors, and others from entering upon such grazing districts for 
all proper and lawful purposes, including the use and enjoyment of their rights 
and property, and prospecting, locating, and developing the mineral resources 
of such districts; and wagon-roads or improvements may be constructed there- 
on, in accordance with law, and all persons shall have the right to move live 
stock from one locality to another within such grazing districts under such 
restrictions only as are necessary to protect the users of the land which will 
be driven across. 

Sec. 5. That the users of the public lands under the provisions of this 
Act may select a committee of not more than four members from the users 
of any such grazing district, which committee shall represent the owners of 
different kinds of stock, and, with the officers appointed by the Secretary of 
Agriculture in charge of such grazing district, shall constitute an executive 
board, which shall determine whether the permits for such grazing districts 
shall be issued upon an acreage or upon a per capita basis, shall make such 
division of the range between the different kinds of stock as is necessary, and 
shall decide whether the distribution of the range shall be by individual or 
community allotments. The executive board shall also determine the total 
number of animals to be grazed in each grazing district and shall decide upon 
the adoption of any special rules to meet local conditions and shall establish 
lanes or driveways and shall prescribe special rules to govern the movement of 
live stock across the public lands in such districts so as to protect the users of 
the land in their rights and the right of persons having the necessity to drive 
across the same. The executive board, after thirty days' notice by publication, 
shall also determine the preference in the allotment of grazing privileges 
provided for in section one of this Act, and shall, under rules of the Secretary 
of Agriculture, determine the value of the improvements and the use of the 

13 



same whenever that may become necessary under the provisions of this Act 
in the administration of the same. Fences, wells, and other improvements may 
be constructed with the permission of the Government officer in charge, who 
shall record the ownership and location of such improvements. Any differences 
between a majority of the executive board and the officer in charge shall be 
referred to the Secretary of Agriculture and shall be adjusted in the manner 
prescribed by him. Any interested party shall have the right to appeal from 
any decision of the board to the Secretary of Agriculture. If the users of the 
land fail to select the committee as herein provided the President of the United 
States shall name such committee from such grazing districts, representing 
the owners of the different kinds of stock, as above provided. 

Sec. 6. That the Secretary of Agriculture shall fix a date which shall not 
be less than one year from the establishment of any grazing district, and after 
such date the pasturing of any class of live stock on public land in said grazing 
districts without a permit, or in violation of the regulations of the Secretary 
of Agriculture, as herein provided, shall constitute a misdemeanor and shall 
be punishable by a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $1,000, or by 
imprisonment for not less than ten days nor more than one year, or by both 
such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. 

Sec. 7. That twenty-five per centum of all moneys received from each 
grazing district during any fiscal year shall be paid at the end thereof by the 
Secretary of the Treasury to the State or Territory in which said district is 
situated, to be expended as the State or Territorial legislature may prescribe 
for the benefit of the public schools and public roads of the county or counties 
in which the grazing district is situated: Provided, That when any grazing 
district is in more than one State or Territory, or county, the distributive share 
to each from the proceeds of said district shall be proportional to its area 
therein. The sum of $500,000 is hereby appropriated, to be available until 
expended, for the payment of expenses necessary to execute the provisions of 
this Act. 

Sec. 8. That the President is hereby authorized to modify any proclama- 
tion establishing any grazing district, but not oftener than once in five years, 
to take effect in not less than one year thereafter, and by such modification 
may reduce the area or change the boundary lines of each grazing district. 



14 



Urging Federal Control of the Unappropriated and Unreserved 
Semi-Arid Grazing Lands 

The American National Live Stock Association, in convention 
assembled, at Denver, Colorado, January 20-22, 1914, hereby 
declares that: 

We believe that the prosperity and development of the stock- 
raising industry on the public grazing lands of the arid and semi- 
arid West are seriously threatened by the present indiscriminate 
methods of grazing, and that thereby the permanent value of such 
lands is greatly impaired; and we strongly recommend the early 
passage by Congress of a bill providing for federal control of these 
unappropriated public grazing lands, and a just and reasonable 
method of leasing such lands. 

We favor the adoption of the Kent Bill, House Bill No. 10539, 
now bsfore Congress, as the best possible measure to protect and 
build up the live-stock industry, except that we recommend that 
the words "nor less than one-half cent per acre" (in section 1, 
italicized) be stricken from said bill. 



"Build up these ranges as it is possible to build them up, and 
we shall begin once more to ship beef products out of this country 
instead of shipping them in. I sincerely believe that this is the 
greatest question before the American people today, and I will 
make no exceptions. It affects both the East and the West, the 
consumer and the producer. It threatens the future economic 
policy of this country. It is all-important to you stockmen. It 
lies with you to go before Congress and demand reasonable legis- 
lation." — Extract from Professor Thornber's address. 



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